After a summer in which several of the island's upscale restaurants wrestled with ownership and management chaos, things are settling down.
At the Westin Resort the pretentiously-named Chloe & Bernard's closed late in the summer. Now, in the second floor location in the main building, Cruz Bay Prime is touting itself as "St. John’s newest Caribbean steak and seafood restaurant featuring prime, grass fed and Wagyu steaks, and domestic lamb." The restaurant is open for dinner 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. with entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights.
Asolare, called by Fodor's "The most beautiful and elegant restaurant" on the island is operating under an experienced hand. Winston Bennett, who launched the operation located above Cruz Bay harbor, is again calling the shots. Initial reviews are positive.
In a post on TripAdvisor, Cind11 from Ohio wrote, "We were just there on New Year's Eve. The girls both had Filet mignon and my DH and I had a fish called Cobia. It was a wonderful dinner, the best we had on St. John during this trip." So, the quality and experience is consistent with Asolare's history. But, Cindll added, so was the bill. "Quite pricey though I must say!!!" Another positive comment came from Vickie from Toronto who said, "We were just there over New Years and had dinner at Asolare on January 1. It was our best meal as well."
- TripAdvisor post on Asolare:
- http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g147409-i432-k3315196-l23711951-Update_on_Asolare-St_John_U_S_Virgin_Islands.html#23711951
- Cruz Bay Prime at the Westin: http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/property/dining/attraction_detail.html?propertyID=1098&attractionId=1004853278
- Background on the recent restaurant scene: http://barnako.typepad.com/news_of_st_john_usvi/2009/10/business-as-usual-at-asolare-paradiso-balcony.html
The food never stopped being good — but the company is still struggling financially to get out of a hole. Winston is not the savior that the newspaper made him out to be; he created a lot of that company’s problems.
The service at Asolare sure has been awful in the past though, regardless of food. We’ve gone around 5 times and our villa guests have gone pretty often–we’ve received comments about rude service and bad service many times. As much as I’d like to love the place, I just can’t.
We haven’t been to Asolare for a few years b/c our experiences there were mediocre at best, including the food and service relative to the prices. It would have to be really good for us to try it again.
I would agree with some food quality issues last time we were there Spring 2006 but have always found the services to be fine and friendly. However, my wife and I are relaxed long meal and conversation types.
We were at Asolare Jan. 21. The service was very good and the food was fantastic. Like it used to be. They had a Crab Souffle for an appetizer special that was excellent. The tuna entree was done perfect and very tasty. Hope they keep it up. Will go back next year again for sure.